Door lock



y 1962 A. MARCANTE 3,036,454

DOOR LOCK Filed July 8, 1958 v United States Patent M 3,036,454 DOOR LOCK Antonio Marcante, Via S. Rosa 5 (Vicenza), Thiene, Italy Filed July 8, 1958, Ser. No. 747,155 Claims priority, application Italy July 10, 1957 5 Claims. (Cl. 70432) I The present invention relates to looks and more particularly to a lock having an indicator device which indicates, on the outside, whether the door is locked from the inside and whether it is unlocked or locked from the outside.

In most types of locks used to date, particularly on doors of hotel rooms, boarding-house rooms, ships cabins or rooms reserved for the teaching staff or directors of institutes or organizations the locks of the known kind, although eflicient and convenient, have the drawback that it cannot be seen from the outside whether or not the lock itself is closed from the inside. In the circumstances mentioned, i.e. in the case of hotel rooms, or other rooms as mentioned above the consequence is that the hotel stafi, in order to ascertain whether the room is occupied or not, must either move the door-handle, turn the key or knock at the door, at all events disturbing any hotel guest who may be present in the room and who would prefer his presence or absence to be indicated automatically to persons outside the room.

The lock to which the present invention relates eliminates the aforementioned drawbacks, as it enables a person outside the door to which it is applied to ascertain (by observing the indicator-device with which the lock itself is equipped) whether the door has been locked from the inside, and whether it is unlocked or locked from the outside. This lock has at least one bolt which can be operated both from inside and from outside, and is characterized in that it has an indicator device comprising a movable part combined with a bolt and capable of taking up at least two positions, the said part being controlled in such a way as to select any one of its various positions, by means of control-devices which are operated from the inside and which are capable of moving it from one position to the other and vice versa, and by means of control-devices which are operated from the outside and which are capable of moving it from one position to other positions but not vice versa.

In virtue of one characteristic of the present invention, the moving part consists of a plate having zones which are of different colors and which are selectively visible to the outside through a window provided in the outer wall of the lock, to indicate whether the lock is closed from the inside, and whether it is open or closed from the outside.

in one form of construction for the present invention, relating to cases in which the lock has one single bolt, the bolt itself can be operated either from the inside, by means of a key, pawl or knob, or from the outside, by means of a key, the moving plate with colored zones being controlled by devices such that it is possible, with the key, pawl or knob on the inside, to move the plate from the first to the second position and vice versa, while with the outside key the plate can be moved from the first to the second position but not vice versa.

In another form of construction, relating to cases in which the lock has a first bolt and a second bolt, or latch, the first bolt can be operated either by an inside key or by an outside key, and the latch can be operated by an inside key, pawl or knob, both for closing and for opening, while the outside key of the first bolt can only oper ate it for closing, the latch being combined, in its opening and closing movements, with the moving plate with 3,036,454 Patented May 29, 1962 2 colored zones, in order to move the plate from one to the other of its positions.

The characteristics of the invention will be more clearly understood from the following description with reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1a is a side view of the internal parts of a form of construction of the lock to which the present invention relates-shown in the open position;

FIG. 1b is a view of the lock illustrated by FIG. 1a shown in the position in which it has been closed from the inside;

FIG. 10 is a view of the same lockshown in the position in which it has been closed from the outside;

KG. 2 is a plan view of a portion of the lock illustrated by FIG. la; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the locking mechanism and door associated therewith showing the elements which enable the lock to be opened from the inside and outside of the door independently.

If we first examine FIGS. 1a, 1b, 1c and 2', it will be seen that the lock illustrated by them comprises a bolt 1 and a safety bolt 2 formed with two thin plates 2, 2", parallel to each other which enclose therebetween the bolt 1 and are integral with a section 2" of reduced extension connecting them. The plate 2 is formed with a first slot 30 engaging a pin 39 fixed to the housing of the lock and a second slot 31 engaging a second pin 32 which is also fixed to the housing of the lock. The bolt 1 is formed with a slot 33 which also engages the pin 32. A spring 3 is provided acting on the top of the safety bolt 2. An auxiliary plate 4 provided between the housing of the lock and the plate 2 of the safety bolt 2 is formed with a slot 34 engaging a pin 35 fixed to the housing of the lock. A supporting bracket 5 is secured to one side of the auxiliary plate 4 and has secured to it, by means of screw-threading, a pin 6, which passes through the housing of the lock. The pin 6 is inserted at its end in a suitable aperture provided in an indicator plate 4i) having two colored areas, 40' and 40", White and red respectively. The White area and the red area present themselves alternately to a window 41 provided in the external fitting or housing 42 of the lock, according to horizontal displacements undergone in one direction or the other by the movable plate.

As noted from the drawings safety bolt 2 performs the function of preventing bolt 1 from being actuated by an unauthorized person with means other than the proper key. Spring 3 acting on the top of safety bolt 2 forces it into engagement with rotary member 11. Safety bolt '2 must be actuated against its biasing means 3 by the proper key in order for bolt 1 to be operated to door open or closed position. Such safety bolts are common in the art and form no part of the invention claimed.

The supplementary plate 4 is equipped at the bottom with a ratchet tooth 7 pivoted at 8 and held in position by a spring 9. The end of the tooth has a lower extension 19. A rotary member 11, which can be operated both from the inside and the outside of a room, has a finger 12, which can engage first the safety bolt 2 and then the bolt 1 to operate the latter in the opening and closing direction, and it can also engage both the extension 1% of the teeth 7 and an abutment 13 of the supplementary plate 4.

FIG. 1a shows the lock with the bolt 1 to the right and with the supplementary plate 4 likewise moved to the right (with the white color opposite the indicator-window) -i.e. in the door open position. In FIG. lb, which corresponds to the position in which the door has been closed from the inside, both the bolt 1 and the supple mentary plat 4 have been moved to the left (the red color being opposite the indicator-window), while in FIG. 10,

which corresponds to the position in which the door has been closed from the outside, only the belt 1 has been moved to the left, while the supplementary plate 4 is in the position corresponding to its displacement to the right (the white color being opposite the indicator-window).

FIG, 3 illustrates in cross section the locking mechanism and door associated therewith and shows in detail rotary member 11 and how it can be operated independently both from the inside and outside of the door structure. Rotary member 11 includes two fingers 12 and 12", respectively, of which the first is integral with member 11' while the other is integral with member 11". Member 11" although capable of controlling bolt 1 is unable to displace the auxiliary plate 4 from the right to the left as shown in FIG. 1c (i.e. from the white to the red color).

To understand the operation of the lock, let us suppose that the door is initially open (FIG. la) and that a hotel guest wishes to secure the lock from inside the room.

It will thus be necessary for him-from the insideto operate the internal part of the rotary member 11, turning it anti-clockwise as when viewing the diagram, so that the finger 12' engages the safety bolt 2 and raises it against the bias of the spring 3 and then it engages an abutment 37 in the bolt 1 causing it to move toward the left. The finger 12, however, moving to the left, meets the extension 10 of the tooth 7, so that the thrust-actin exerted on the tooth moves the supplementary plate 4 to the left, and the pin 6 consequently causes the movable plate with colored zones to move to the left likewise, causing the red zone to be seen through the window provided on the outside of the lock-fitment. This red color, visible from the outside, constitutes an indication that the lock has been secured from the inside and thus that a person is present in the room. When the hotel guest Wishes to leave the room, he merely carries out, in the reverse direction, the operation employed for securing the lock from inside: by moving the internal part 11 of the rotary member 11 in a clockwise direction as when viewing FIG. lb, he engages the abutment 38 in the bolt 1 and moves the bolt 1 to the right, enabling the door to be opened, and also moves the supplementary plate 4 to the right, by the engagement of the finger 12' with the abutment 13. The result of this movement of the plate 4 is that by means of the pin 6 the white color shows through the external aperture. The movement of the finger 12 to the right can take place because the extremity of the tooth 4 is free to rise due to the resilient mounting of the arm 7. If the door is now to be closed from the outside,'it is suflicient to operate the outside key operating the outer finger 12" which engages the abutment 37 in bolt 1 moving the bolt 1 to the left (FIG. 10). In this case, however, no thrust-action is exerted on the supplementary plate 4, which remains in its position on the right, leaving the white color visible through the aperture, to indicate that the door has been locked from the outside or that die door is unlocked.

Let us now suppose that the door has been Secured from th inside, i.e. with both the bolt and the supplementary plate moved to the left (FIG. 1b), and with the red color visible from the outside. From the outside, the bolt can be unlocked by moving it to the right by engagement of the outer finger 12 of the rotary member 11 with abutment 38 in bolt 1. Bolt 1 moving to the right pushes also the supplementary plate 4 to the right by engagement of its abutment 36 with the transverse section of bracket 5. In this manner the lock is released (FIG. la) and the colored zone visible from the outside is the white zone.

It is obvious that the lock provided for in the inven-, tion can be combined with an ordinary spring lock.

The advantages provided by the lock to which the invention relates are fully evident. It enables the red indication to be given or removed from inside, while from outside it can only be removed, so that it can at all times be seen, from outside the door, whether the door itself has been locked by a hotel guest present inside the room, and also whether the door of the room has been unlocked or locked from outside. Hotel guests can thus provide persons outside the room with evidence of their presence in the room, and the hotel stafi are able at all times, without the necessity for recourse to any operation liable to disturb the occupants, to ascertain whether hotel guests have left the respective rooms and also Whether the latter have been entered by any unauthorized person-since the latter, when leaving, can close the door behind him but cannot cause the red color to reappear.

At all events the lock provided for by the present invention constitutes a means of indicating when the lock has been disturbed, thus providing a meas of showing when a room has been broken into.

Although only one form of construction for the invention has been illustrated and described, it is evident that numerous variants and modifications can be intrbduced without departing for the scope of the invention itself.

What I claim is:

1. In a lock for mounting on a door, a housing, a bolt for reciprocal movement in said housing, a first means for reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from one side of said housing, a second means for reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from the other side of said housing, an indicating device mounted on said housing for reciprocal movement, means comprising a one way connection between said indicating device and said bolt, said first means upon actuating said bolt in either direction actuating said indicating device in the same direction, said second means upon actuating said bolt in one direction actuating said one way connection causing actuation of said indicating device in said one direction but being unable upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction to cause actuation of said indicating device in said opposite direction.

2. In a lock for mounting on a door, a housing, a bolt for reciprocal movement in said housing, a first means for reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from one side of said housing, a second means for reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from the other side of said housing, a window in one side of said housing observable from one side of the door, an indicating device mounted in said housing for reciprocal movement past said window, means comprising a one way connection between said indicating device and said bolt, said first means upon actuating said bolt in either direction actuating said indicating device in the same direction past said window, said second means upon actuating said bolt in one direction actuating said one way connection causing actuation of said indicating device in said one direction past said Window but being unable upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction to cause actuation of said indicating device in said opposite direction.

3. In a lock for mounting on a door, a housing, a bolt for reciprocal movement in said housing, a first rotatably mounted member comprising a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said boltin either direction from one side of said housing, a second rotatably mounted member independent of said first member and co-mpris ing a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from the other side of said housing, a window in one side of said housing observable from one side of the door, an indicating device mounted in said housing for reciprocal movement past said window, means comprising a one way connection between said indicating device and said bolt, said first member upon actuating said bolt in either direction actuating said indicating device in the same direction past said window, said second member upon actuating said bolt in one direction actuating said one way con-1- nection causing actuation of said indicating device in said one direction past said window but being unable upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction to cause actuation of said indicating device in said opposite direction.

4. In a lock for mounting on a door, a housing, a bolt for reciprocal movement in said housing, a first rotatably mounted member comprising a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from one side of said housing, a second rotatably mounted member independent of said first member and comprising a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from the other side of said housing, a window in one side of said housing observable from one side of the door, an indicating device mounted in said housing for reciprocal movement past said window, means comprising a one way connection between said indicating device and said bolt, said first member upon actuating said bolt in either direction actuating said indicating device in the same direction past said window, said second member upon actuating said bolt in one direction actuating said one way connection causing actuation of said indicating device in said one direction past said window but being unable upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction to cause actuation of said indicating device in said opposite direction, said finger of said second member upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction disengaging from said indicating device.

5. In a lock for mounting on a door, a housing, a bolt for reciprocal movement in said housing, a first rotatably mounted member comprising a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction fromone side of said housing, a second rotatably mounted member independent of and coaxially arranged with said first member and comprising a finger for engaging and reciprocably actuating said bolt in either direction from the other side of said housing, a window in one side of said housing observable from one side of the door, an indicating device comprising a plate mounted in said housing and parallelly arranged with the axis of said bolt for reciprocal movement past said window, means comprising a one way connection between said indicating device and said bolt, said first member upon actuating said bolt in either direction actuating said indicating device in the same direction past said window, said second member upon actuating said bolt in one direction actuating said one way connection causing actuation of said indicating device in said one direction past said window but being unable upon actuating said bolt in the opposite direction to cause actuation of said indicating device in said opposite direction.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 785,228 Phelps Mar. 21, 1905 1,022,221 Augenbaun Apr. 2, 1912 1,264,583 Voight Apr. 30, 1918 2,235,526 Lucas Mar. 18, 1941 2,315,102 Adams Mar. 30, 1943 

